WLNE-TV

WLNE-TV

New Bedford, Massachusetts/ Providence, Rhode Island
Branding	ABC 6
Channels	Digital: 49 (UHF) Virtual: 6 (PSIP)
Subchannels	6.1 ABC 6.2 Live Well Network
Owner	Citadel Communications (Citadel Communications, LLC.)
First air date	January 1, 1963
Call letters' meaning	We Love New England
Former callsigns	WTEV (1963–1980)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 6 (VHF, 1963–2009)
Former affiliations	CBS (1977–1995)
Transmitter power	350 kW
Height	284 m
Facility ID	22591
Transmitter coordinates	41°51′55.4″N 71°17′12.7″W / 41.865389°N 71.286861°W / 41.865389; -71.286861
Website	www.abc6.com

WLNE-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for Rhode Island and the South Coast of Massachusetts. It is licensed to New Bedford, Massachusetts, but is headquartered in and operates from studios at 10 Orms Street in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. It is one of two major Rhode Island stations (the other being CW affiliate WLWC) licensed to the Massachusetts side of the market. WLNE broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 49 from a transmitter in Rehoboth, Massachusetts,

WLNE is owned by Bronxville, New York-based Citadel Communications. Citadel Communications is unrelated to the former Citadel Broadcasting Corporation, which owned several stations in the Providence market before being acquired by Cumulus Media in 2011.

History

The station began broadcasting on January 1, 1963 as WTEV from studios on 430 County Street in New Bedford.^[1] It operated on analog VHF channel 6. Initially the transmitter was in Little Compton, Rhode Island, with the antenna mounted on a 500-foot (150 m) tower; a few years later, WTEV moved to a 950-foot (290 m) tower in Tiverton. The Tiverton transmitter was still 20 miles away from the transmitter sites in Rehoboth used by the existing stations in the Providence market, WJAR-TV (channel 10) and WPRO-TV (channel 12, now WPRI-TV); WTEV could not move to their sites as this would have caused interference to WRGB in Schenectady, New York and WCSH-TV in Portland, Maine, which also broadcast on channel 6 in the analog era. Before cable or satellite diminished the importance of over-the-air signals, most viewers had reception problems with WTEV. This was caused by its signal coming to their homes from a different direction than those of the other Providence television stations, leading to many homes in the area mounting their outdoor antennas on rotators. It was only with the advent of digital television (and the change to channel 49) that WLNE's transmitter would be able to move to Rehoboth, and it finally could achieve signal equivalence to its competitors. Signal issues associated with analog channel 6 were an incurable problem for the station for 45 years.

ABC had a curious history in Rhode Island prior to WTEV's sign-on. In the earliest years of television in Providence, all three networks were shoehorned on primary NBC affiliate WJAR-TV, at that time the market's only television station. WNET launched on channel 16 in 1953 as an ABC affiliate. However, it was forced off the air in 1956 due to the difficulties faced by UHF startups at the time. Since television manufacturers weren't required to include UHF tuning capability on television sets, viewers needed an expensive converter (or an all-channel set, the latter being very rare at the time) to watch WNET, and the picture was marginal at best even with one. For the seven years prior to channel 6's sign-on, WJAR and CBS affiliate WPRO-TV aired ABC programming, sometimes pre-empting their primary network but usually airing ABC shows on a delayed basis in off-hours. However, much of Rhode Island could get the full ABC schedule from Boston stations—WHDH-TV (channel 5, now occupied by WCVB-TV) prior to January 1, 1961, and WNAC-TV (channel 7, now WHDH) from 1961 to 1963.

Even though Providence was big enough to support three full network affiliates, it soon became apparent that channel 16 would not be resurrected in the near future (prior to 1964, television sets were not required to have UHF tuning capability, and most didn't). The owners of the future WTEV decided to seek a waiver of FCC technical regulations to allow VHF channel 6 to be added to the FCC's Table of Allocations,^[2] initially to serve the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Adding channel 6 to the Providence area theoretically caused interference due to "short spacing" to WRGB and WCSH-TV. Additional FCC filings argued that it wasn't practical to operate television studios and offices from Nantucket, so the FCC allocation was modified to New Bedford (at the time FCC rules required that a station have its studios and offices located in its community of license).

New Bedford and Bristol County are part of the Rhode Island market due to Rhode Island's small geographic size, even though the rest of southern Massachusetts is in the Boston market (counties were assigned by Arbitron and Nielsen to a particular television market based upon their viewing patterns). The advent of satellite television made this an irritation to some Massachusetts subscribers of services such as DirecTV and Dish Network who are unable to receive Massachusetts news and sports from Boston stations. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allows network affiliates to prevent satellite subscribers from receiving network stations from outside the station's designated market. Bristol County is the only part of Massachusetts associated with Rhode Island for television purposes.

WTEV was founded by a group that was 55-percent owned by the E. Anthony and Sons, publisher of the New Bedford Standard-Times and owner of WNBH radio (1340 AM and 98.1 FM, now WCTK); the remaining 45 percent was held by New England Television, the holder of the license for the old WNET.^[3] In 1966, shortly after E. Anthony and Sons sold the Standard-Times and WNBH, WTEV was purchased by Steinman Stations of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.^[4] WTEV moderately preempted ABC shows, in most every case a low-rated program. This didn't pose as much of a problem as it may seem, since most viewers could still get the full schedule from Boston's WNAC until 1972, and on WCVB afterward. During afternoon hours, WTEV ran a blend of cartoons and classic sitcoms. Late nights were devoted to movies.

Switch to CBS

In 1977, WTEV swapped affiliations with WPRI and became a CBS affiliate after Knight Ridder Television, which had just purchased WPRI, cut an affiliation deal that switched two of the three television stations it owned at the time to ABC. At the time, ABC was aggressively pursuing strong NBC and CBS affiliates to switch, and succeeded in persuading some longtime NBC and CBS stations to switch (as an example, KSTP-TV in Minneapolis-St. Paul and WSB-TV in Atlanta, both longtime NBC affiliates, switched to ABC during that period).

In 1979, the Steinmans sold WTEV and their flagship station, WGAL-TV in Lancaster, to Pulitzer Publishing. This sale reunited them with KOAT-TV in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which had been sold to Pulitzer in 1969. Pulitzer changed channel 6's call letters to the present-day WLNE in 1980. The new call letters were used as a promotional acronym: "We Love New England." The WTEV call sign is now used on a CBS affiliate in Jacksonville, Florida. Under Pulitzer, the station acquired studio space inside the Charles Orms Building in downtown Providence, their current location. With studios in both Providence and New Bedford, WLNE began a unique practice with its newscasts at the time, using the Action News branding and a main anchor team of Magee Hickey (now with WPIX in New York City) and Chris Conanglia. For the weeknight newscasts, the anchors were split between the two studios, each being accompanied by either a meteorologist or sports anchor. This format ended in 1981. By this time, most of the station's main operations were moved to the Providence location. The original New Bedford facility was used as a news bureau, secondary studio, and sales office through the late 1980s.

Beginning in 1980, WLNE ran an afternoon movie from 4-6pm. By 1982, the station was also running a movie weekdays from 9-11am. These movies were run under the Dialing For Dollars promotion and were hosted by George Allen for a decade. WLNE also continued to preempt moderate amounts of programming, particularly the offerings from 10-11am (to accommodate the morning movie), at noon, and late night programming. Throughout much of the 1980s, WLNE was known for running two movies a day.

In 1983, Pulitzer sold WLNE to Freedom Communications. This sale was necessary because Pulitzer had acquired WFBC-TV (now WYFF) in Greenville, South Carolina and WXII-TV in Winston-Salem, North Carolina that same year, leaving the company one VHF station over the FCC's ownership limit of the time; as fate would have it, the remaining Pulitzer stations would be sold in 1999 to what is today Hearst Television, whose flagship is WCVB. By the fall of 1988, WLNE was only running an afternoon movie weekdays and began clearing CBS' 10:00 am hour. In the fall of 1989, WLNE dropped CBS' Guiding Light, moving the movie to 3:00 pm and adding more syndicated programming in the 5:00 pm hour; by mid-1990, the afternoon movie was dropped in favor of additional syndicated programming. In the fall of 1990, WLNE dropped the CBS Saturday morning cartoons in favor of several movies in that time slot. In 1991, Guiding Light was reinstated. By 1993, the Saturday morning movies were replaced with educational children's programs and infomercials.

Return to ABC

Then-ABC affiliate WPRI was sold to CBS in the spring of 1995, making it a CBS owned and operated station (and one of the last such acquisitions prior to the Westinghouse Electric Corporation's purchase of the network). As a result, at midnight on September 10, 1995, WPRI reversed the 1977 swap with WLNE and officially rejoined CBS. WLNE then became an ABC affiliate again, and began calling itself "ABC6".^[5] As an ABC affiliate, WLNE runs virtually the entire ABC schedule of programming, with the Saturday morning infomercials replaced with ABC's Saturday morning cartoons.

Early in the afternoon of May 4, 2005, WLNE's analog transmitter was knocked off the air due to a faulty section of transmission line on the tower. The transmitter had been running at 80% power due to another unrelated technical problem that occurred approximately two weeks earlier. Although Dish Network satellite and some cable systems continued to receive broadcasts through fiber optic connections, over-the-air and DirecTV satellite subscribers were left without a local ABC affiliate (DirecTV gets its signal via antenna). Some cable providers made special temporary arrangements to carry Boston ABC station WCVB during this outage. The WLNE transmitter was operational again late Thursday evening after 32 hours off the air.^[6]

Sale to Global Broadcasting

In August 2006, The Providence Journal reported that WLNE was put up for sale.^[7] The key reason for the decision was the lack of a second station for Freedom to operate in the market that would improve synergies for the Providence operation. On March 12, 2007, Freedom announced it was selling WLNE to Global Broadcasting, a Delaware corporation headed by Robinson Ewert and Kevin O'Brien.^[8] The FCC granted approval of this sale in mid-September and ownership was officially transferred on October 9.^[9] Freedom continued to operate WLNE's website until November 30, 2007, when control was shifted to Broadcast Interactive Media, and later WorldNow in April 2010. Global Broadcasting was not related to a Canadian network, the Global Television Network, or its parent, Canwest Global Communications.

Financial struggles, bankruptcy

For many years, WLNE carried the syndicated shows Dr. Phil, Rachael Ray, Entertainment Tonight, The Insider, and Inside Edition from CBS Television Distribution. However, in mid-2009, the station was unable to reach a carriage agreement with the syndicator, successor to King World Productions and Paramount Domestic Television. At that time, the station was carrying Dr. Phil, Entertainment Tonight, and Inside Edition. As a result of the situation, the shows were dropped on June 5 and quickly moved to WNAC-TV (channel 64, and the legal successor to the former WNET).^[10] Temporarily put in their place were Cristina's Court, Family Court with Judge Penny, a 7 o'clock newscast, and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.^[11] On June 16, CBS filed a lawsuit against Global Broadcasting for failing to fully pay license fees for the shows and a breach of contract. The syndicator sought $5 million from the company.^[12][13]

On June 23, NewsBlues reported that Global Broadcasting co-owner Robinson Ewert had left the company amidst the dispute with CBS. He was replaced by Rob Holtzer, general sales manager at Sunrise Sports and Entertainment, owner of the NHL's Florida Panthers and the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida. He is also a former national sales manager at the YES Network in New York City. Holtzer's official title at Global was vice president and director of sales.^[14]

Global Broadcasting filed for receivership (Rhode Island's equivalent to bankruptcy) on July 29, 2010 due to declining advertising revenues. Providence attorney Matthew McGowan was appointed receiver.^[15][16] A month later, the station was put up for sale for the second time in four years. According to The Providence Journal, several groups had expressed interest in purchasing the station and a deal was projected to be reached by the end of the year.^[17] On December 13, 2010, rumors surfaced that A.H. Belo Corp. would buy WLNE and merge its operations with those of the The Providence Journal—despite the fact that the company was formed from the split of non-broadcasting operations from Belo Corporation. Belo itself was considered a likelier candidate due to the strength of its operations in other regions, and its operation of regional news channels much like WLNE's own NewsChannel 5.^[18]

On February 10, 2011, Citadel Communications of Bronxville, New York was chosen as the stalking horse bid in the sale of the station with a bid of $4 millon. Five other groups (including one led by former Providence mayor Joseph Paolino) were also interested in purchasing the station and had until March 18 to submit competing bids prior to auction.^[19] On March 17, ABC notified potential buyers that WLNE's affiliation with the network beyond March 31, 2011 is not assured, which Global Broadcasting CEO Kevin O'Brien said could depress the final price WLNE is sold for at auction.^[20] Some observers feared that this could prompt one or more of the six companies believed to be bidding for WLNE to withdraw from bidding for the station, which may have even forced it off the air if no sale was made.

Sale to Citadel Communications

On March 22, Citadel Communications was approved as the new owner of WLNE by receiver Matthew McGowan.^[21] The company met the approval of ABC, and took over station operation on May 1 under a local marketing agreement (LMA) with McGowan and Global under the name Global Communications LLC. until the sale was approved by the FCC, at which point Citadel would assume full ownership.^[22] On April 5, WLNE revealed programming changes made in light of the sale, which included the returns of CBS Television Distribution shows The Insider and Inside Edition.^[23] On April 25, veteran sales manager Chris Tzianabos was named vice president and general manager of WLNE, replacing Steve Doerr.^[24] Global CEO Kevin O'Brien tried to appeal the sale in court,^[25] arguing that attorney McGowan did not try hard enough to achieve a higher sale price for the station.^[26] However, he did not succeed in his efforts, and on June 1, it was announced that the FCC had approved the license transfer, therefore finalizing the acquisition.^[27]

In September 2011, as had been promised by Citadel upon its acquisition of the station, WLNE-TV began broadcasting newscasts and syndicated programming in full high-definition. The station additionally debuted a new circle logo and website design, matching those of other Citadel stations, but incorporating its previous stylized 6.^[28][29]

Digital Television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel	Video	Aspect	PSIP Short Name	Programming[30]
6.1	720p	16:9	WLNE-HD	Main WLNE-TV programming / ABC
6.2	480i	4:3	WLNE-SD	Live Well Network

The station's analog video broadcast at a frequency of 83.26 MHz AM. The station's analog audio was aired at a frequency of 87.76 MHz FM. Both frequencies were +10 kHz shift from the center channel 6 frequency to prevent interference with stations in Albany, New York, Portland, Maine, and Philadelphia who were also on channel 6. WLNE's analog audio could be picked up on the lower end of the dial on most FM radios at 87.7 MHz. WLNE regularly mentioned this additional way of coverage. This was true of all analog channel 6 stations in the United States. After February 17, 2009, channel 6 audio on WLNE was no longer available on the radio. (It was still available on most other full-powered channel 6 stations in the United States through June 12.)

Analog-to-digital conversion

WLNE-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 6, on February 17, 2009, the original date in which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 49,^[31] using PSIP to display WLNE-TV's virtual channel as 6 on digital television receivers. It offered a nightlighting service on its analog signal for 60 days following the shutdown. The station aired a looping DTV education program as well as all of its newscasts. Due to this service being broadcast on analog channel 6, audio was still available on 87.7 FM. When this period ended.

On January 16, 2012, WLNE, along with all Citadel stations, began carrying Disney/ABC's Live Well Network on its digital subchannel (6.2). This can also be seen on Cox digital channel 803, Verizon FiOS digital channel 466, Full Channel digital channel 196, and Comcast digital channel 296.^[32] Prior to this date, the station did not carry an additional network but simulcasted its main programming in SDTV on 6.2.

Programming

Syndicated programming on WLNE includes Katie, The Queen Latifah Show, omg! Insider, Inside Edition, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and The 700 Club.

The longest-running program on channel 6 is TV Mass from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River, which began in 1963. Produced by WLNE, the show was originally aired at 8:00 am. TV Mass is currently aired at 11:00 am as it has been since 2004. It is normally taped at the chapel of Bishop Stang High School in Dartmouth, Massachusetts. Easter Mass and Christmas Mass are normally taped at St. Mary's Cathedral in Fall River, Massachusetts.^[33]

Prior to its host's retirement, the longest running program on WLNE was The Truman Taylor Show. The Sunday morning public affairs program debuted very early in 1963. Numerous politicians appeared on the show, including two U.S. presidents. In late-2005, Taylor taped his final show. He is now a featured op-ed columnist for The Providence Journal.

In early-2006, ABC6 News On the Record replaced Truman Taylor, with Jim Hummel hosting the program until his departure from the station in July 2008. Following his departure, On the Record was temporarily taken off-the-air and replaced with infomercials. The show returned in October 2008 with weeknight anchor John DeLuca and Chief Political Analyst Buddy Cianci as hosts. Cianci became a solo host in 2011 and the program's title was officially changed to On the Record with Buddy Cianci. The program is traditionally taped on Friday afternoons and currently airs on Saturday and Sunday mornings at 7:30 am.

WLNE has been the market home of the MDA Show of Strength (formerly the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon) since 1993. As WTEV, it was one of the first affiliates of the "Love Network" when it was formed in 1968. Local cutaways had been broadcast from the Warwick Mall for years. In 2007, the telethon relocated to the Providence Marriott hotel in downtown which is on the same street as WLNE's studios. Once again, the location was changed in 2008 to the Twin River Casino in Lincoln. This is where the current pledge record was established. In total, $755,705 in local donations was raised. The 2009 telethon returned to Twin River and was simulcast on former sister station NewsChannel 5 and WALE radio (990 AM). $731,573 in local donations was raised that year.

WLNE became the first station in Rhode Island to broadcast a local program in high-definition when it aired Bristol's 4th of July Parade in 2008 live with production facilities provided by Comcast. It was hosted by John DeLuca, Allison Alexander, Fred Campagna, and Paul Mueller of WLNE and Todd Newton of Comcast. In 2009, the station won an Emmy Award for its pre-parade special, Reflections of the Fourth: Celebrating Bristol, from the Boston/New England chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The 2009 parade was also broadcast in high-definition, with production facilities provided by CSP Mobile Productions. The parade was also simulcast on NewsChannel 5 and streamed live on abc6.com, the site's first offering of a live video web stream. The parade was not broadcast in 2011 amidst the change in station ownership, but it returned in 2012.

WLNE has been the official television home of the parade since 2006.

NewsChannel 5

NewsChannel 5, formerly known as the Rhode Island News Channel (RINC) began broadcasting on November 30, 1998. Operated by WLNE (until 2012) and Cox Communications, it was the first and only 24-hour local news channel in the state. It provided non-stop news 24-hours a day seven days a week mainly consisting of rebroadcasts of news that aired on WLNE. The station could only be found on Cox Cable channel 5 in Rhode Island. NewsChannel 5 also provided live, continuing coverage of breaking news and other events. When severe weather struck, the WLNE weather team provided accurate and up to the minute forecasts.

Prior to Citadel Communications' acquisition of WLNE, there were three live newscasts that aired exclusively on NewsChannel 5. From its launch, a weekend morning newscast was seen exclusively on the station. As of May 2011, this newscast was also broadcast on the main channel. On September 29, 2008, WLNE began offering an extra hour of local news on weekday mornings at 7. An extended hour of Good Morning Providence was one of two 7 o'clock local newscasts in the market, the other being an extended hour of WPRI's Eyewitness News This Morning on WNAC-TV. This newscast was no longer broadcast as of May 2011. WLNE occasionally aired a 10 o'clock newscast during major news events or when sports programming pre-empted the 10 o'clock news on competitor WNAC. As of May 2011, this newscast no longer aired.

For a brief period in September 2009, an audio feed of NewsChannel 5 was broadcast on radio station WALE in various timeslots; this included a start-to-finish simulcast of the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon. On February 1, 2012, WLNE's affiliation with Cox channel 5 ended, and its programming on the channel was replaced with WJAR programming and is now Ocean State Networks (OSN).^[34]

News operation

For most of its history, WLNE has placed a distant third in the market, behind WJAR and WPRI. The station has been known for numerous turnovers in format, talent and management over the years for the purpose of increasing its newscast ratings and sales revenue, all having little or no effect. During the last years of Freedom's ownership, most news reports originated taped or live from the station's newsroom. There were few live reports done out in the field. For all broadcasts, there was only one anchor and all on-air personalities served as reporters. There were simple graphics used along with a consistent news music package.

Since Global Broadcasting's purchase, several significant changes had been made to the news department. This included changes in overall image and a remodeled news set. ABC6 News in the Morning was expanded to two hours and renamed Good Morning Providence, which was changed to ABC6 News This Morning in September 2011 by current owner Citadel Communications. There had also been a significant increase in hard news coverage and the number of daily newscasts. Because of these changes, ratings had briefly increased and for a time, ABC6 News was promoted as "New England's Fastest Growing News." The ratings surge did not last for long. However, on March 29, 2011 WLNE scored its first late news victory in years, finishing number one at 11 pm following the series premier of network medical drama Body of Proof, which was filmed entirely in Rhode Island for its first season.

On October 24, 2007, WLNE announced that infamous former Providence mayor and WPRO (AM) personality Vincent "Buddy" Cianci would join the station as Chief Political Analyst and contributing editor starting on November 1.^[35] Cianci was a political analyst at WLNE in the late 1980s. He also moderates a daily segment on ABC6 News. It was previously entitled Your Attention Please and was co-moderated in-studio by former Chief Reporter Jim Hummel. Following Hummel's departure from the station in July 2008, it was changed to Buddy TV, and weeknight anchor John DeLuca became co-moderator. The segment aired live during the former ABC6 News First At Four, with Cianci originating from the East Providence studios of WPRO, where the segment was simulcast during his weekday show that airs from 2 pm to 6 pm. With the change in station ownership in May 2011, the segment name was changed to The World According to Buddy with a solo Cianci in the ABC6 studios. The segment is taped live during the noon newscasts and re-aired during the 5 o'clock news.

On December 17, the station announced it would launch ABC6 News First At Four, the market's first-ever 4 o'clock news on January 14, 2008. Described as a "hard newscast" and not morning-show style fluff, First At Four gave WLNE a head start in coverage of weather and politics. This newscast aired for just over three years and competed head to head with Oprah that aired on WJAR. First At Four last aired in April 2011 prior to the transfer of station ownership. In May 2009, WLNE launched a 10 o'clock newscast on Sunday mornings. Previously, it had only produced weekend morning newscasts for NewsChannel 5. It was the only Providence station with a local news broadcast airing at that time. In May 2011, the new owners moved the newscast to 7:30 and added Saturday morning broadcasts in addition to Sunday mornings. The weekend morning newscasts were cancelled in 2012. In June 2009, the station launched the market's first (since the 1980s) 7 o'clock newscast on weeknights, filling the spot vacated by Entertainment Tonight, which was taken off the schedule due to the station's dispute with CBS Television Distribution. In March 2011, this newscast was replaced with infomercials, with the newscast airing only in the event they could not sell the time slot on a given day.^[36] After the station's sale to Citadel, this newscast was officially replaced with syndicated programming the following month.

On April 5, 2011, WLNE announced a new programming lineup that included the addition of a 5 pm newscast on April 25.^[23] On May 17, veteran anchor Karen Meyers was named co-anchor of the station's weeknight newscasts, replacing Allison Alexander (now with KVOA in Tucson, Arizona).^[37] WLNE began using Frank Gari's Eyewitness News music package in June, which all of Citadel's ABC affiliates use. On September 13, WLNE became the second station in the market to broadcast news in high-definition, behind WJAR and just a week ahead of WPRI/WNAC.^[28] Along with the transition came a new graphics package, matching those used on the newscasts of other Citadel stations. The station received the company-wide news set in August 2012. In January 2013, the station began streaming its newscasts to mobile devices via the Syncbak app. Also, all reporters in the field work as multimedia journalists that shoot and edit their stories in addition to presenting them. They are also capable of managing their own live shots without an accompanying photographer through the use of mobile streaming "backpacks" manufactured by TVUnetworks.

In weather segments, WLNE uses live regional radar from the National Weather Service local office in Taunton, Massachusetts, along with high-resolution satellite. The system is presented on-air as Stormtracker. There is also a weather radar at the station's old analog transmitter site in Tiverton but it is unknown if this is in operation. In 2012, the Stormtracker Weather Team was certified as providing Southern New England's most accurate forecast by WeatheRate, an independent weather research firm. On June 5, 2012, it was announced that chief meteorologist Fred Campagna's contract with the station would be terminated on July 31 due to a breakdown in contract negotiations, ending his 14-year tenure at the station. He was replaced by Kevin Coskren, formerly the chief meteorologist at WLNE's sister station KLKN in Lincoln, Nebraska.^[38] On July 19, 2012, WLNE became the first station in Southern New England to be recognized as StormReady by the National Weather Service.^[39]

WLNE won the Massachusetts/Rhode Island Associated Press News Station of the Year award four years in a row from 1997 to 2000 and again in 2002. The station also won a regional Edward R. Murrow Award for Investigative Reporting two consecutive years. Former reporter Tom Langford won the award in 2006 and former Chief Reporter Jim Hummel received it in 2007. In 2010, former investigative reporter Parker Gavigan won the Massachusetts/Rhode Island Associated Press Broadcast Award for Investigative Reporting for "Dream Makers," and morning/noon anchor Doreen Scanlon won the AP Award for Best Hard News Feature for "Made in Rhode Island: Kettlebells."

Due to its coverage area overlapping with Boston's ABC affiliate WCVB, the two stations share resources for coverage of southeastern Massachusetts.

News/Station presentation

Newscast titles

• News Journal (1963-1973)
• Newscope 6 (1973–1980)
• Action News (1980–1981)
• Channel 6 News (1981–1983)
• WLNE News (1983–1987)
• WLNE 6 News (1987–1990)
• 6 News (1990–1995)
• ABC 6 News (1995–present)

Station slogans

• 6 Country is Your Country and 6 Country is You (1973-1980)
• We Love New England at WLNE (1980-1984)
• Share the Experience (early 1990s)
• We're Looking Out for You (1999–2001)
• See It Tonight or Hear About It Tomorrow (2001–2002)
• Your Nonstop News Source (2002–2004)
• New England's Fastest Growing News (2008–2009)
• Fast. Accurate. Reliable. (2008–2009, weather 2008-2011)
• Honest. Fair. Everywhere. (2010–2011)
• Your Local News Team (2012-2013)
• Your Town, Your Life, Your News (2013-present)

Newscast Schedule

Weekdays

• ABC 6 News This Morning - 5:00-7:00 a.m.
• ABC 6 News at Noon - 12:00-12:30 p.m.
• ABC 6 News at 5:00 - 5:00-5:30 p.m.
• ABC 6 News at 5:30 - 5:30-6:00 p.m.
• ABC 6 News at 6:00 - 6:00-6:30 p.m.
• ABC 6 News at 11:00 - 11:00-11:35 p.m.

Saturdays

• ABC 6 News at 6:00 - 6:00-6:30 p.m.
• ABC 6 News at 11:00 - 11:00-11:35 p.m.

Sundays

• ABC 6 News at 6:30 - 6:30-7:00 p.m.
• ABC 6 News at 11:00 - 11:00-11:35 p.m.

News team

Anchors

• John DeLuca – weeknights at 6:00 and 11:00 p.m.
• Karen Meyers – weeknights at 6:00 and 11:00 p.m.
• Mark Curtis – weeknights at 5:00 and 5:30 p.m.; also chief political reporter and multimedia journalist
• Alexandra Cowley – weeknights at 5:00 and 5:30 p.m.; also general assignment reporter and multimedia journalist
• Matt Blanchette – weekday mornings (5:00-7:00 a.m.)
• Doreen Scanlon – weekday mornings (5:00-7:00 a.m.) and weekdays at noon
• Liz Tufts – Saturdays at 6:00, Sundays at 6:30 and weekend nights at 11:00 p.m.; also general assignment reporter and multimedia journalist

ABC 6 StormTracker Weather Team

• Kevin Coskren (AMS Seal of Approval) – chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5:00, 5:30, 6:00 and 11:00 p.m.
• Steve Cascione (AMS Seal of Approval) – meteorologist; weekday mornings (5:00-7:00 a.m.) and weekdays at noon
• Chelsea Priest – meteorologist; Saturdays at 6:00, Sundays at 6:30 and weekend nights at 11:00 p.m.; also multimedia journalist

Sports Team

• Ken Bell – sports director; weeknights at 5:30, 6:00 and 11:00 p.m.

Reporters

• Nicole Gerber - general assignment reporter; also multimedia journalist
• Dana Griffin – general assignment reporter; also multimedia journalist
• Mike LaCrosse - general assignment reporter; also multimedia journalist
• Samantha Lavien - general assignment reporter; also multimedia journalist
• Melissa Randall - general assignment reporter; also multimedia journalist

Contributors

• Vincent "Buddy" Cianci – chief political analyst; also host of On the Record with Buddy Cianci
• Diana "Dee" DeQuattro - digital news coordinator; also assignment editor
• Dr. E.J. Finocchio (RISPCA) – Pick of the Litter segment (Tuesdays at noon)
• Chef Walter Potenza - Eat Well segment (Wednesdays at noon)
• Jim Stearns – weekday morning traffic reporter (5:00-7:00 a.m.)

Notable former on-air staff

References

External links

• ABC6.com (Official Website)
• Homage to the old WTEV: "Due to Circumstances Beyond Our Control"
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WLNE
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WLNE-TV

v t e Television stations in Rhode Island and Bristol County, Massachusetts, including Providence and New Bedford Reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television Local stations WLNE-TV (6.1 ABC, 6.2 LWN) WJAR (10.1 NBC, 10.2 Me-TV) WPRI-TV (12.1 CBS, 12.2 TheCoolTV) WLWC (28.1 CW, 28.2 LATV) WSBE-TV (36.1 PBS) WRIW-CD (50.1 TMD) WNAC-TV (64.1 Fox, 64.2 MNTV) WPXQ-TV (69.1 ION, 69.2 Qubo, 69.3 ION Life, 69.4 ION Shop, 69.5 QVC Over Air) Boston stations available in region WGBH-TV (2.1 PBS) WBZ-TV (4.1 CBS) WCVB-TV (5.1 ABC) WHDH-TV (7.1 NBC, 7.2 ThisTV) WFXT (25.1 Fox) WUNI (27.1 UNI) WSBK-TV (38.1 MNTV) WGBX-TV (44.1 PBS, 44.2 World, 44.3 Create, 44.4 Kids) WLVI (56.1 CW, 56.2 TCN) WDPX-TV/WBPX (58.1/68.1 Ion, 58.2/68.2 Qubo, 58.3/68.3 Ion Life) Connecticut stations available in region WHPX-TV (26.1 Ion, 26.2 Qubo, 26.3 Ion Life) WEDN (53.1 PBS/CPTV, 53.2 CPTV4U, 53.3 Create) Cable channels OSN NESN CSN NECN Defunct channels WNET/16 (ABC/DuMont) News Channel 5 Eyewitness News Pinpoint Weather Station Cox Sports Massachusetts television Albany Boston Providence Springfield

v t e ABC Network Affiliates in New England Massachusetts WCVB-TV 5 (Boston) WLNE-TV 6 (New Bedford) WCDC 19 (Adams) WGGB-TV 40 (Springfield) Maine WVII-TV 7 (Bangor) WMTW 8 (Portland) New Hampshire WMUR-TV 9 (Manchester) W27BL 27 (Berlin) WMUR-LP 29/W38CB 38 (Littleton) Rhode Island WLNE-TV 6 (Providence) Connecticut WTNH 8 (Hartford/New Haven) Vermont WVNY 22 (Burlington) WCVB-TV 5 (Boston) (Can be received in Windham County and Windsor County.) See also ABC CBS CW Fox ION MyNetworkTV NBC PBS Other stations in New England

v t e Citadel Communications Executives Philip J. Lombardo (Founder/Chief Executive Officer) Ray Cole (President/Chief Operating Officer) ABC Network affiliates KCAU-TV1, 5 KLKN1 WLNE-TV1 WOI-DT1, 2, 5 CBS Network Affiliates WHBF-TV1, 3, 5 Live Well Network affiliates WLWN-LD4 1 Carries the Live Well Network on digital subchannel 2 Licensed to Capital Communications Company, Inc. (joint venture with Lynch Entertainment of Connecticut) 3 Licensed to Coronet Communications Company (joint venture with Lynch Entertainment) 4 Low-power 5 Operated by Nexstar Broadcasting Group; full acquisition pending